HARVEY NARCOTICS COP WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE

A Harvey police officer known for his aggressive undercover narcotics
work was injured in a drive-by shooting early Saturday morning.

Mayor Nickolas Graves said the off-duty officer may have been
targeted for retaliation by gang members or drug dealers.

"From all indications, we don't think it's random," said Graves, a
former Harvey police chief. He speculated that someone officer Marcus
Ellison had run into before "took a chance at getting back at him."

Ellison was in serious condition Saturday evening at Christ Hospital
and Medical Center. He was hit four times in the back, chest and
arms, but his injuries are not considered life-threatening, Graves
said.

Ellison, who is in his late 20s, had stopped to chat with a fellow
officer investigating another shooting, and then left to go home. He
was driving alone on Wood Street when he noticed a car tailgating
him, said Sgt. Joe Thomas.

The car came up beside Ellison, and a passenger in the back seat
opened fire. Thomas said there were three men in the car, a black
mid-'80s model Lincoln. He said Ellison did not shoot back.

After he was hit, Ellison lost control of his car and drove into the
front yard of a home on 141st Street.

Thomas described Ellison as an active officer in the city's
undercover gang and narcotics unit. He told officers he recognized
one of the shooters as a gang member.

"He makes a lot of drug arrests and a lot of search and seizures,"
Thomas said. "That wouldn't make you very popular with the drug
dealers."

Contributing: Curtis Lawrence